Getting dd to sleep despite newfound moblity! Experiences please!

[Ab31]

Hello all!
My 9 mnth DD has just learned how to get herself to sitting from lying down by rolling onto her tummy and pushing up and back over her feet. She's always been a great sleeper as she sucks her thumb so never needed much comforting BUT now I feel like I've got someone else's baby! As soon as I lie her down she gets up and eventually gets stuck and starts to cry. It's been a week now and she's only put herself to sleep on one night, the rest of the time I have been going in, lying her back down again about a million times before eventually feeding her to sleep. Also if she wakes in the night she does the same thing where before she just used to suck her thumb back to sleep. Daytime sleeps ditto! It's driving me mad. How do I deal with this?? Should I just repeatedly lie her down over and over?
Wondering if anyone else has/had the same thing (of course they have!) and how it panned out. Really don't want to get into bad habits of feeding/rocking to sleep but don't know what else to do!
Experiences please...

Hello Ab31,
This happened about the same time with my now 10 mth old. She was a great sleeper, then started waking because she'd crawl around in her cot half asleep and get confused. If it's any consolation, it eventually just worked itself out - it's just the novelty of being mobile perhaps. I had to lie my dd back down, shush her a bit and leave her. She was usually very happy to go back to sleep, but if not, after about 10 mins I would give her some water and resettle her. After that I'm afraid I left her to yell for a bit, which I know not many people approve of ... I think it took about 3 weeks before she stopped rolling over or sitting up and not being able to get back to her sleeping position.

Hope it improves soon.

Hi Ab31,

I had the same trouble. I did exactly what you did and would go in and put dd back on her back, tuck her in and leave her to go back to sleep.

Once she did figure out how to get back down - I could hear her doing it on the baby monitor, she would cry for about ten minutes then get back down and go to sleep. But that ten minutes was quite heart wrenching and I know its not for everyone.

I guess its just a matter of waiting for her to grow out of it.

My dd goes through unsettled periods every few months, mostly when she is sick and is allowed in our bed or is given frequent breastfeed through the night. Then, once the illness has passed, we have to 'train' her back into sleeping through the night again, which for us means going in, picking her up, showing her that it is still dark outside then tucking her back into bed.

You will be pleased to know that perseverance does pay off. At 18mo, dd has now given up her bedtime breastfeed (surprisingly the first feed to be given up not the last) and goes to her bedroom door, declares 'open' and then demands to get into her cot. She then puts herself to sleep without a peep. I am amazed . However, she does still wake in the night once or twice if she is sick or teething, but goes back down quickly.

So, there is light at the end of the tunnel, it seems.

Good luck with it all - sleep deprivation is wretched.